Happy Monday! Carlos H came to Z Car Garage for exhaust/intake upgrades on his 2016 Nismo 370z. He was a referral from Scott C and we feel the best kind of business comes from making people happy! We installed long tube headers from Fast Intentions (FI):

From the headers back a complete FI cat-back system with 18″ resonators:

  

Stillen Gen 3 intakes:

  

With the intake and exhaust we saw nice gains of 12hp/16tq for a total of 310hp/260tq to the wheels:

 

UPREV tuning yielded  another 13hp/6tq to the wheels:

 

Final numbers were 323hp/266tq to the wheels, a significant gain of 25hp/22tq from the 298hp/244tq baseline:

 

Long Live The Z!

 

Dear Zcarblog readers, this is my 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show report. Although long overdue, it serves as a reminder that the 30th Annual 2017 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show is just around the corner. So mark those calendars for April 22!  Enjoy.

-Alvin

 

The 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place on April 23. Now in its 29th year, this gathering continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. There is something for everyone here: shopping, food, wine-tasting, outdoor activities, and the last weekend of every April a huge gathering of Datsuns. I did not drive my roadster this year but I still enjoyed the show with my family!

 

On to the cars! Here are some highlights from the day…there were only a handful of 1967 2000 roadsters this year. Some of these cars are considered the “cream of the crop” with full restorations or OEM levels of detail like Mike Young’s SRL #266 and Rodney N’s SRL #485:

  

Winning best of show was SRL #233 completely frame-off restored by Kevin of KRD:

   

Speaking of attention to detail…fully restored factory gauges artfully assembled by Jon Frampton could be seen on multiple cars. The gauges are truly little jewels that give owners a range of options with lighting, lettering and even inner workings all without going to aftermarket gauges.

Left: Factory mechanical gauges behind Corey’s R20 stroker powered SPL

Right: Factory gauges converted to electronic behind Harlan’s SR20DE-powered SPL

 

While were on interiors, check out this cool Datsun Competion (by Kaemeri) steering wheel looking great in Corey’s SPL:

  

At the other end of the spectrum and far from stock is Shannon’s ’69 SRL. Modern gauges and A/C vents adorn the dash with a touch screen in the center console:
…[read more]

 

Gustavo L has been bringing his 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe for bolt-ons the last few years. His first visit was for a Motordyne plenum spacer and UPREV tune. Last May, Gustavo came back to ZCG with a plan for more new parts including a full exhaust system, ART pipes, 60k service and a TransGO shift kit.

Motordyne exhaust:

   

Firmer shifts on this automatic with the shift kit:

  

Quicker acceleration with shorter gearing courtesy of Z1 rear diff. Gustavo purchase an entire assembly from Z1 and we installed it with Whiteline diff bushings”

 

We performed a re-tune with UPREV and saw gains of 19hp/10tq for a total of 247hp/233tq to the wheels.  Power is increased throughout the entire rev band:

 

Gustavo brings his car from Watsonville which is a bit of a hike but totally worth it for the power of ZCG! He is stoked and Enjoying The Ride!

 

 

 

Scott N visited ZCG because he felt the suspension on his 1994 Z32 ‘Vert could be improved.  The Z33 Rays wheels look sharp on this 300! We installed TEIN coil-overs and a few other goodies:

Here are the existing shocks and the new TEIN street coil-overs going in front and rear:

Z1 upper control arms:

 

SPL tension rods so we could fully adjust camber up front:

 

The rack bushings are vey common problem on z32s so we replaced them. In the back: the aftermarket adjustable upper control arms were making noise so we replaced them with OEM parts and performed a full alignment.

Scott is super happy and Enjoying The Ride!

 

 

 

Our friends at SpeedSF are running another great track day at Laguna Seca on February 20. We love running our cars with these folks and they go above and beyond to make sure you get tons of track time! They are offering a free transponder for all the Nissan drivers ($20 value) for this track day so sign up soon!  ZCG will be out there with a customer’s R32 Skyline GT-R and several new/old Z cars.

Full Track :

• 90 db Only event.
• Five 20mins Session , 4 Run Groups, (Advance, High Intermediate, Low Intermediate, Beginner)
• All cars welcome with different level of experience groups.
• Optional Time Trail Series: Speed SF Challenge, compare your lap time with other drivers in your class. Details: http://speedsf.com/speed-sf-challenge/
• Single Driver $225 / driver ($250 Regular Price)

 

More details at SpeedSF.com!